From a lay person’s perspective living here my whole life:
I grew up middle class. My parents made like $60k combined in the 90s/00s.
I grew up around lots of different classes.
I lived in the New England and Southern Belt areas.
One extreme, poverty:
Many of my friends lived in public housing. This means smaller apartments and usually shadier folks.
People try to pitch you on schemes or odd jobs.
A lot of my friends had single mothers.
I found out later that several dated drug dealers.
I’ve had many people die from overdose (heroin, fent).
In south and north, the poorer you are, the more your ethnic accent comes out (southern slang & Boston southie).
Many smoke or eat poorly. Eating is usually because of material circumstances.
A lot of people are giving in terms of money or time. They’ll rib you about it, but they’ll help you.
Other extreme, wealth:
I work in tech. I’ve been successful and have hung out with pretty wealthy people, certainly much wealthier than me.
They often live somewhere lavish, like a lake house, expensive apartment, or a family house.
Most have some generational wealth. Some had successful parents. Others come from linages.
Many have no awareness of how difficult things can be on the poor side. They lack lived experience.
Most are kind, and self aware of their wealth.
However, it feels like many have a “rules don’t apply” mindset.
Tend to have worse empathy for the poor.
Tend to have worse manners, but I wouldn’t say they are spoiled.
More giving to their friends, less giving or trusting of strangers.
Many are good at managing optics & image. I’ve heard a lot of stories about how home lives were too faced, like everyone saw the good side, but there was some darker edge beneath the surface.
Older rich people seem to be the least empathetic. Younger rich people seem better.
It’s not really possible to capture what it’s like to live. Homelessness is a real problem and a worse version of poverty. The most sociopathic people I’ve known have been ultra wealthy. This is anecdotal.
From a lay person’s perspective living here my whole life:
One extreme, poverty:
Other extreme, wealth:
It’s not really possible to capture what it’s like to live. Homelessness is a real problem and a worse version of poverty. The most sociopathic people I’ve known have been ultra wealthy. This is anecdotal.